REVERE, Mass. — It was just two years ago on July 28 that a small tornado hit Revere hard.
It only took four minutes on the ground to damage 65 buildings, rendering over a dozen uninhabitable and causing millions of dollars in damage. There were only minor injuries reported,which is incredible considering nobody could see the tornado.
StormTracker meteorologist Shiri Spear was on the air in the morning tracking severe weather during the FOX25 Morning News.
The severe thunderstorm had weak rotation within it, which Shiri noted on the air. However, unlike much bigger supercell tornadoes, this one was coming from a low cloud deck and was shrouded in heavy rain. That's referred to as a "rain-wrapped tornado."
They can be especially deadly because you can't see the funnel cloud. It hit at 9:32 a.m., a rare morning tornado, and was gone by 9:36 a.m.
We do get tornadoes in Massachusetts, including the much bigger storm that hit Monson in 2011, and the monster Worcester tornado in 1953. This one was the first documented in Suffolk County. Often these storms are knocked down by the marine air near the coast. Also, most of our severe weather occurs during the hottest part of the afternoon.